Means for compiling tabular and statistical data



H. E. SUPER.

MEANS FOR COMPILING TABULAR AND STATISTICAL DATA.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23.1918.

1,35 l ,692 Patented Aug. 31, 1920.

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MEANS FOR COMPILING TABULAR AND STATISTICAL DATA.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23,1918.

Patented Aug. 31, 1920.

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, "mvmoa v HESqper PATENT OFFICE.

- HERBERT EDWARD SOPER, 'OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

MEANS FOR COMPILING TABUDAR AND STATISTICAL DATA.

Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented Aug. 31, 1920.

Application filed July 28, 1918. Serial No. 246,872.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I HERBERT EDWARD So- PER, a subject of the king of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at'8 Causton road, Highgate, London, N. 6, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Means for Compiling Tabular and Statistical Data, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to compiling data when this is of the kind in which each successive case or entry is expressible in terms of the alternative categories of a limited number of characters.

There appear to be two distinct purposes for which such data is compiled and I have in view both of these purposes in devising my instrument.

First, the instrument may be required for the purpose of identification and used for this end it may be called an index or table.

Thus, an event, a book, a person, an invention, a legal case, a scientific investigation, mayhave several classifications as date, place, subject matter or other characteristics and the searcher knowing all, or it may be some only, of these characteristics may require by consulting the index to arrive at the individual object of his search or ascertain, it may be, the other particulars. Where the classifications are numerous, the known methods for securing this end, as the multiple entry index or the card index, are cumbrous in their compilation and laborious in their use.

Second, the purpose to be served may be of a statistical nature and the instrument will in this instance be called upon to give the counts of the cases falling within the various categories, taken singly or in combination. The known methods of putting the data upon cards, each card representing a case or entry, and afterward sorting the cards, have drawbacks when the number of cards is large. Both the sorting operations and the counting operations are difficult and either necessitate considerable manipulation of the cards or else suffer from the uncertainty of the operations, which are not positive in their nature but depe'nd, for the correct return of the statistics, upon the pre-.

carious sliding of individual slotted cards keyed in a stack, under the motive force 01% their gravity or momentum alone.

My data compiling instrument serves either of the two purposes above mentioned into a second position near to this is desirable.

and has for one of its objects to render the recording operation of a simple nature. ThlS may be said 1n my invention to comprise the drilling of a single hole-in its serial points of light distributed over the face of the instrument, thus rendering extremely simple the operation of counting. In neither the recording nor the observing operations are leaves removed from the apparatus, nor

are they at any time free to move by gravity or impulse.

A. further object I have in view is to economize the material upon which the records are made and this is attained in virtue of the need for removing the leaves having been obviated and also the need for any mechanical card selecting agency. Thus the leaves do not require to be made specially robust or heavy as is the case to adapt them to the methods of sorting and counting as hitherto practised.

My invention may be briefly described as comprising a number of character bearing sheets held one against the other in a file,

all of which sheets cooperate to record the particulars of any single entry in the manner now to be explained.

Each sheet is normally held by positive means in what will be called its first position, but each sheet may be moved independp5 of the remainder by positive means the first, or into a third or into ulterior adjacent positions, if in certain modes of classification ently cases each position after the first, answers to a category or division of the character which has been allotted to the sheet and the combination of categories of the several characters which belong to the case or entry are reproduced in the file by appropriatedisplacements of the component sheets. When these positions, appropriate to the entry, have been assigned to the various sheets, a hole is drilled through the assemblage of severally displaced sheets at a point upon the face following in serial order the previous entries. The succes- The leaves employed in my 65 Each position, or in some pose being to expose a new portion of the plate fixed to the immovable parts or frame of the instrument and covering the face.

It will be apparent that if after the data are compiled the sheets are moved into any positions indicating a combination of categories, those cases will be brought to vi ew which bear that complex, being distmguished by clear holes through the. file,

which may be rendered easily visible by a white or luminous screen placed at a short distance behind the file.

No other holes but those appertaining to such cases will appear, provided, of course,

as is presupposed, that the rows and columns are spaced at sufficient distance to prevent the holes proper to one oint or perforation coming under the ad acent points.

In the compilation of such data as mathematical tables, the first and second osition for each sheet will, in many uses 0 the instrument be sufficient, for'it is clear that any number may beexpressed in the binary scale, comprising only the two digits 0 and l in each order. A sheet answering to any order may therefore express 0 in its first position and 1 in its second position. p

In other data it is convenient to reserve the first position as a null indication. The

sheets are all returiied initially to their null position and holes are drilled at every oint in row and in column. The second an further positions indicate the categories; and when these are known only in part, or where in statistical work counts of wider classes are required,those categories which are unknown or are ignored (since their sheets are in the null positioni do not obstruct the holes but allow the search or other processes to be carried on as if the character were not recorded. I I

I prefer two positions besides the null position for registering the more general class of data, for not only are a great many classi fications double (as male female, married single) but merely antithetical (as deaf not-- deaf), but-categories of three or more alternatives are readily reduced to binary classifications as has. already been explained in the case of numerals, and it will contribute to economy to increase the number of sheets and allow each the same number of positions rather to increase the distance between rows or columns (and so reduce the capacity of the file) for the sake of a few characters with an exceptional number of alternative cate ories.

hatever the number of ositions into which my sheets may be move it is evident that the amount of displacement from .one position to the next needs only to be a little greater than the diameter of a hole, the pursheet to the perforating instrument applied at the point.

When my instrument is used as an index or table it may be required to yield the full particles of any case which has been identied by certain of the particulars, or directly Ry its'serial position in the array of points. his can be accomplished by displacing the sheets in order, from the nearer to the more remote, so as successivel to expose to view the holes in the several s eets, and to expose finally the clear hole through the file as originally drilled. The several displacements which are observed to have been made will then indicate .into which category of each character the case falls.

I prefer, however, to arrange the registration in the following manner for recovering the full classification of an entry: I employ besides a null position, a second and third 'position only, and I dispose these one on either side ofthe null position so that a sheet will register which of two alternative categories of the character a case falls into by a small displacement, say alternatively to right or to left of the null position. The

hole then made I run into the null position hole so as to form a slot or extended hole. The register on each sheet will now take the form of a number of short slots each extending either to ri ht or to left of a central null hole identi yin a case. By placring a style through the le of sheets at the position allotted to'the individual whose characteristics are sou ht, these sheets can be displaced, each eit er to right or left, according to the direction of the recording slot, the contrary motion being hindered by the style, and such ermitted displacements being ascertained, etermine the .full particulars of the individual that have been recorded.

In order that my invention may be moreclearly understood, reference is now made to drawings Figure 1 in which the sheets composing a file and the index plate thereof are shown extended. v

Figs. 2 and 3 are part views of individual sheets showing different ways in which the sheets may be perforated.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a plurality of sheets composing a file adapted for reaording the more general class of statistical ata.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a complete instrument in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 6 is a corresponding section.

Figs. 7 and 7 are views illustrating the means employed for moving the sheets in the file illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6.

ran ed one behind another in order to economize space.

In Fig. 1 illustrating one method are shown the character bearing sheets, I), 0, d, parted and seen in perspective to display the perforations therein, recordin upon each sheet the data appertaining to t e several individual entrles in res ect of the character borne by that sheet. he manner of making the perforations a propriate to each entry will now' be descri ed.

The sheets are supported by suitable means and can be retained one against the other and a ainst the metal plate or cover a perforate upon its face with holes a a a a etc., at suitable equal distances in row and in column, such position holes being severally allotted to the individual cases entered from the statistics. The sheets can also be moved separately, by suitable means, and in the case illustrated, each can be displaced at will a distance of one, two, three, four or five steps to the right from its initial osition.

hen in their initial or null positions, the sheets are perforated through their mass by means of a drill set square to the surface of the plate a; and directed through each hole upon its surface in succession. The sheets I), 0 will therefore receive holes in like positions to the holes in the plate and these are indicated at b 5 b, 1),, 0 c c 0 in the drawing where the sheets have been distended for View.

It follows that clear holes appear through all the entry positions When the sheets are all in their null positions and moreover, any sheet which is left in its undisplaced position will allow the passage of light through the holes in the subsequent working of the apparatus as if the sheet were not there.

It is next necessary to pro-arrange which of the characters are to be shown by the several sheets and which divisions shown by the several displacements of each sheet. By way of illustration we may suppose that the first sheet registers occupational class and that this character has five divisions to which will answer displacements of the sheet, one, two, three or five. steps. The

' second sheet may register health in five grades and the third nationality and so on. f there are more than five categories 'of any character, two or more sheets may be reserved for recording all the divisions of such a character in the form of the apparatus now illustrated.

The entries from the statistics may now be recorded and we will suppose that the first individual to be entered at a, is placed in the third division of the occupational classes. The first sheet 1), recording occupational classes, is displaced three steps to the right and retained there.- The indithen be moved two steps to the right. When all the sheets which correspond to data recorded of the individual have been in similar fashion displaced each the number of ste s appropriate to the classification of the in ividual, a hole is drilled through the mass of so displaced sheets at the position a The perforations resulting from drill ing the severally displaced sheets are illustrated in Fig. 1 at b,', 0,", the first three steps from the null hole I), and the second four steps from the null hole 0,.

The next individual is treated in like manner and when the sheets have been ap' propriately displaced a hole is drilled at the second position say a,.

When all the individuals have had their classifications transferred to the register'at the positions a a a a appointed to them, the apparatus is ready for use either for counting or identifying as the case ma be.

ldor exam le, if it be desired to count all the indivlduals in the third occupational individuals, among Whom will be the individuala Will then be brought to View by having clear holes through their positions, while other individuals, as for example I), who may possess one of the characters, in this instance, occupational class, but differ in another as in health grade, or individuals as b who differ both in occupational class and in health grade, will by virtue of these differences oppose one or more obstructing sheets to the clear passage through the holes a,, a, and the clear holes in the undisplaced sheets d, e, etc. The number sought is therefore the number of clear holes through the file which may be readily counted by the e e.

The further particulars of any individual sorted out in the manner above described may be ascertained for identification by moving each of the remaining sheets in turn one step at a time from its null position until the sheet is in the position to admit light through the record hole. In this way the sheets will have been brought back to the positions given to them when the record was made and the full particulars thereby ascertained.

In Fig. 2 is illustrated the type of perforations upon a sheet in an instrument used as a mathematical table, the recorded numbers being expressed in the binary scale. The successive values of the argument or arguments are marked against the position holes no I ' a (1,, etc., on the face of the file and the function in this scale.

sheets record the values of the corresponding As an example, the holes may be marked with the numbers 1, 2 3, etc., to 10000 and the sheets ma recor the logarithms of those numbers. ince the logarithm of 2 expressed in the binary, scale is .010011 the first sheet recording 0 is left in its first position, the second recording l-is displaced one step to the ri ht, and so on, before the drilling of the ho eat position marked 2. Since every digit is 0 or 1 in this scale, and the digits are supposed. to be all known andall used. the leaves need to have one displaced position only and the register appears as a hole either in the first or in the second, thatis, the displaced position. In thedillustration 1 is registered at d,,.and 0 at In Fig. 3 the holes which express the digit 1 in the sheet illustrated in Fig. 2 are shown as slotted back to the 0 position. By this expedient the recovery of the record is facilitated. The sheets are first all returned to 0 when clear holes will appear through the file at every position upon the face of the plate. The position hole marked with the iven argument being found, a style H is mserted as may be seen by reference to Fig. 7 and the several sheets urged tothe right. Those sheets which are free to move report the digit 1 in their orders. Those which are held b the style report 0.

In ig. 4 is illustrated the preferred manner of recording the more general class of statistical data, adapted for sorting out all the individuals possessing one known character or any combination of known characters and at the same time adapted to the easy recovery of the data appertaining to any selected individuaL Each sheet has two positions only besides the null position, one on either side thereof, recording two alternative categories and the holes corresponding with the null position and the record are run together to form a slot. As shown at b,, the slot comprises thev null hole and the record hole obtained by a displacement of the sheet to the right. As shown at 6 the slot/comprises'the null hole and the record hole obtained by a displacement of the sheet to the left. As shown at b the record is wanting and the null hole only appears. Where the categories are more than two in number as for instance in age in years in which classification the number of categories may exceed one hundred, these are enumerated in the binary (or in this manner of recording it may be the ternary) scale and a sheet employed for be-recorded against an individual b a displacement of the third, fourth, fi th and seventh order sheets, say to the right and a dis lacement of the first, second and sixth or er sheets to the left.

The slots enable the particulars of any individual to be quickly aescertained by. the insertion of the style as already explained in reference to the s eets illustrated in'Fig. 3, and by the thrust of the individual sheets, in this case either to the left or to the right, as permitted b the style. It is apparent that this expe ient cannot be emplo ed in records arranged as illustrated in ig. 1 since in this case a slot joining the record hole of a larger category, as for instance the hole 6 to the null hole will in effect produce perforations at the record points 6,, 1),", of the smaller cate cries and so falsify the indications of the instrument used for sorting. It will be clear that in order to permit the use of the slot for recovering individual data without falsifying the sorting indications in the manner explained, it must be a condition that the sheets are allowed a displacement of one step onl in one direction from the null position and recourse must be had to two or more sheets for recording characters whose alternative divisions are greater in number than the directions from the null position in which the sheets are arranged to be displaced.

Figs. 7 and 7 illustrate convenient means for moving any sheet at will independently of the remainder and in particular for giv- 100 ing the displacements required in the method of tabulation described in reference to Fig. 4. The cover plate a, Fig. 7, has short marginal slots 1, 2, 3 and the several sheets I), c, d, f, etc., have longer marginal 10!. slots 1, 2, 3, etc., behind the cover-plate and shown parted in Fig. 7 to register with those 'in the platewith the exception that the first sheet I) has a central hole 1 in place of the first or'top slot; the second sheet a has a cen- 11(- tral hole 2 in place of the second slot from the top, and so on. When the sheets are assembled behind the plate with the slots in register with those in the plate, any single sheet, for example the third sheet 03, can be moved to right or left b inserting a pin not shown in the hole 3 o d which will appear in the middle of the slot 3 of the late a, and urging the pin to right or left. he remainin sheets '6, c, f, etc., will not be displaced y the pin in virtue of the slots in them at the position 3.

Fig. 5 shows in elevation a complete instrument made in accordance with the invention and arranged to record the data in the manner described in reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a section through AA of Fig. 5.

The sheets ,6 which may be of thin metal are contained between two flanged metal plates 9, g, clamped at suitable distance by spacing distance.

bolts h z" j k. The metal plates are provided with a large number of small holes in true register arranged in rows and columns the distance between columns being rather larger than the distance between rows. These holes are arranged in close proximity since their number determines the number of entries that can be made upon the register. They are shown at a,, a a (1 etc., in the illustration exaggerated in size and in Marginally, on either side, the plates are perforated with slots Z, m, which are alined with the rows of holes. The sheets also, on either side, have marginal slots or central holes, in the manner and for the purpose described in reference to Fig. 7. The central holes at either endof a sheet are engaged by pins a, 0, passing through the slots in the sheets and plates and the two pins are rigidly connected together by a thin metal strip p on the up er side of which they are welded. The t in strips thus lie between the rows of holes and do not impede the passage of light through the holes. The strip is supported by the pins 9 1' attached to its ends and sliding in the holes 8 t in the flange of the back plate. The sheets are thus supported, in the instance'illustrated, by the pins 0% o, and by moving one of the pairs of these pins to right or left by pressing on pin 1' or g the engaged sheet, in this case the first sheet, is displaced to right or left independently of the other sheets, which are not so engaged by said pair of pins n 0 in virtue of the slots or larger perforations in them. The three positions central (or null), right and left of the pins are accurately determined and secured by the pawl or spring M which engages one of the three notches 'v in the strip p.

The data are recorded and the slots formed in the manner already described in reference to Fig. 4. The sheets are displaced to right or left by the aid of one of the pairs of pins-a, o--by pressing the pins 1" or g owing to the connection of the metal strip, 10, or left central, in accordance with the characters given for the individual and a hole is drilled by a suitable drill or 'rimer through the file at the position of entry allotted to the individual. While the drill or rimer is spinning the sheets are returned to their null osition by the pinsr, oby which means t e slots are conveniently formed.

The complete data being recorded, the instrument may be used for statistical counts. Certain sheets are displaced by the pins answering to the combination of characters to be sorted out and the remainin sheets are left in their nullpositions. The individuals reporting these characteristics are thereupon instantly disclosed by the passage of light through the clear holes answering brought into view. The urther particulars, if any, recorded by the instrument may then be ascertained for each of such individuals in turn by the explained use of the style and pins. Such further particulars may sufiice to identify the individual searched for, or this may be arrived at by the direct examination of some individuals reduced now to a small number by the aid of the instrument.

It will be appreciated that the method of search by combined characters which my instrument permits possesses great advantagesin expediting the work over systems of indexing employing cross references or multiple entry. At the same time, since each datum is recorded once only the end is at-' tamed in an economical manner and with little cost in space and material.

In Fig. 8 is shown howmy instruments may bearranged to economize space where very large numbers have to be dealt with.

Where the numbers are such as to requirethe use of two ormore files, these are arranged one behind the other with the holes in the cover plates alined. Any one file can be searched without obstruction by the remainder since the rays of light will pass through the holes in such remaining files when their sheets are returned to the null positions.

This is illustrated in the figure which shows diagrammatically a horizontal section through the alined rows of holes in three Mil files placed one behind the other. The lines represent the sheets and the discontinuities in them,'the slots in the sheets recording the data in the manner described in reference to Fig. 4. The sheets of the file A and of the file B have all been returned to their null positions and clear holes appear in every entry position on the faces of the files as illustrated at 'w m g a. The fileC is in use and the sheets havin been displaced as shown, the individual l) is brought to view by having a clear hole through his position, while the individuals E F r are obscured. The light by which the individual D is identified passes-through the clear holes w z in the files A and B which therefore do not affect the use of the file C. In similar manner the file B can be searched without obstruction by A and C.

Other means for dealing with large numbers of entries may be employed. Thus for i instance I may use rolls of thin paper and I necessity hold the several characters-bearing sheets in contact with one another since, as was explained in reference to Fig. 8, the rays of light are transmitted or alternatively obscured when the sheets are in register at whatever distance they may be separated one from another.

Again, it will be understood that other displacements of the sheets than those described are open to choice for expressing the divisions of the characters. For example, a sheet may be displaced in its own plane from right to left and also in its own lane in a direction at ri ht an les to this, 1f suitable su pdorting an dispIacing means are prov1 e 7 Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is e 1. Means for compiling data of the kind specified, comprising a number of .sheets superposed in a file, each sheet answering to a character into one of whose alternative categories and individual entry from the data may be placed; means for giving definitive displacements in its plane to each sheet at will without displacing the other sheets, such displacements by their distances and direction answering in predetermined manner to the several categories into which the character borne by the sheet is divided; said sheets having successive entries recorded thereon by means comprising a single hole' extending through the mass of sheets their position in serial order upon the face' of the file.

2. Means for compiling data as claimed in claim 1, in which anull position is provided for each character-bearing sheet and holes are drilled through the sheet at ever entry position, when the sheet is in its nul position for the purpose described.

' 3. Means for compiling data as claimed in claim 1, in which a perforated sheet or plate or a pair of perforated plates covering the file. of sheets is provided for the purpose described.

- 4. Means for compiling data as claimed in claim 1, comprising sheets provided with perforations at selected points other sheets provided with larger perforations and pins passing through the larger erforations and engaged in the smaller perf manner that the desired movement of a sheet to be selected may be effected by means of the pins engaged in the smaller perforations fvivlithout moving the remaining sheets in the 5. Means for compilin statistical data as claimed in claim 2, in which the holes indicating the characters are connected with theholes corresponding with the null position so as to form a slot in order that'a style may be used for recovering the data, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I name to this s ecification.

. HERB RT EDWARD SOPEB.

have :signedmy orations in such 

